


Departmental Purview

by Gang_Aft_Agley



Category: Agent Carter (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multi, Peggy Carter is the Boss, Peggy and Her Network of Women in Espionage, Surprise Cameo from the Bond Universe, and Waverly knows it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 10:05:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14330115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gang_Aft_Agley/pseuds/Gang_Aft_Agley
Summary: Waverly's new unconventional team of agents is eminently qualified for many things, but stumbling over a long-abandoned HYDRA cache is not one of them.Since this is likely to happen again, he calls in help to make sure they are better prepared next time.Naturally, the "help" has her own agenda.





	Departmental Purview

Of course, they burst into Waverly’s London office in the middle of an argument, and were far too preoccupied to notice that he was not alone.

“…. I _told_ you not to open it, Cowboy, why are you always in such a hurry ….”

“… Peril, I could fit what _you_ know about safe-cracking into Gaby’s Dior clutch with room left over for your…”

“… I will murder _both_ of you with my shoes, can’t either of you ever _listen_ …”

The dark-haired woman ensconced in the most comfortable of the visitor’s chairs (which was not saying very much) pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow in consternation.

“Good Lord, Alex, do you have to put up with this nonsense at _every_ debriefing?” she murmured.  Her host shook his head wearily.

“In their defense, they are a bit rattled, and well out of their depth, poor things. This sort of mission usually falls to _your_ people, and none of us were expecting … well, whatever in God’s name _that_ was,” Waverly sighed. His guest leaned across the desk to pat his shoulder consolingly. He squeezed her hand, and quickly released it. Sitting up very straight, she touched two fingers to her lips and whistled: an eardrum-shattering blast that silenced the squabbling trio of special agents and left Teller covering her ears in dismay.

Waverly blinked, a slow smile spreading across his face.

“Yes, well done, Director, thank you ever so much for that timely interruption. Now, to business.” He shuffled the papers on his desk, idly tapping a pencil on the blotter while he gathered his thoughts. “Under normal circumstances, I suppose I’d have to give you all a stern lecture on _not_ blowing large holes in Italian hillsides and causing a great deal of structural damage to both the ruins of …” he paused to look down at the handful of photographs attached to his initial report, “… a formerly picturesque Roman temple _and_ the local church tower, oh my, among several other local landmarks.”

Kuryakin winced even as his jaw tightened, Teller narrowed her eyes, and Solo opened his mouth, presumably to protest. Waverly held up his hand, forestalling the inevitable excuses and explanations; he wanted to hear neither.

“However, these are _not_ normal circumstances, as our intelligence going in to this mission was, well, in a word … deficient.”

“To put it mildly,” Kuryakin ground out between clenched teeth.

“I’m afraid that’s my fault,” Waverly’s companion said crisply. “The team we sent in to do a preliminary survey of the site seems to have a missed a few rather crucial details, and mistakenly flagged it as safe for other visitors. I will have _…. words_ … with them when I return to the States, rest assured.” Her tone remained serene and unruffled throughout, and yet when she said _words_ , the hairs on the back of one’s neck wanted to stand to attention and salute.

“And you are….?” Solo drawled, not in the least impressed; Teller elbowed him sharply in the ribs.

“This is Director Margaret Carter of SHIELD,” Waverly said, clasping his hands on his desk. She smiled tightly and nodded, meeting each agent’s eyes in turn.

“In the usual course of things, neither UNCLE nor any of your parent organizations should ever be called upon to deal with a long-abandoned and booby-trapped HYDRA cache. That is SHIELD’s responsibility, we fell down on the job, and for that, I sincerely apologize. All things considered, you did fairly well in handling something so far out of your respective areas of expertise.”

“That being said,” Waverly continued, “it is not out of the realm of possibility that we may stumble across something similar in the future.”

Director Carter _hmmm_ ’d in agreement.

“Yes, HYDRA was certainly well-named in that respect. It seemed like we found a new branch or 084 or _something_ under every rock and tree stump for a few years after the war, and even now … well, you saw the results.”

“Since I am going to keep asking you three to continue poking your noses into some very odd places, this situation will no doubt reoccur, or something equally as odd will pop up.” Waverly exchanged a significant glance with the Director. “Leviathan, Zodiac, the Council of Nine…” She nodded.

“And of course, THRUSH has been also dabbling in all sorts of nastiness, trying to pick up where Schmidt left off.” Waverly winced, because that had not been a good mission at all.  His knee still ached whenever the barometer began to drop.

“Ah, yes. Quite.” He cleared his throat, and looked piercingly at the three agents across his desk. “With that in mind, Director Carter has agreed to provide additional training for you all.”

“ _Training?!?!?"_

Kuryakin and Solo exploded almost simultaneously, and then began to talk over and around each other in protest at the very notion that their skills might be in some way lacking.

Director Carter glanced sideways at Teller, a look that said to any woman as clearly as words could have: _and you have to deal with this on a regular basis?_  

Teller shrugged, a delicate half-twitch of the shoulders: _you just have to know how to handle them properly, that’s all_.

The Director smiled and gave her a brief nod, the very slightest bob of the head: _well done, my dear_.

Waverly, of course, had missed the entire exchange; he was only a man, after all. Instead, he was preoccupied with watching Solo and Kuryakin, who had (as they were wont to do) shifted away from arguing with _him_ , and instead were taking shots at each other. He gazed at them dispassionately, but with intense interest, fingers steepled in front of his face: an entomologist, studying a fascinating new species of beetle before deciding whether or not to stuff  _this_ particular specimen in a killing bottle and then mount it in a box on a pin.

Teller, clearly having had enough of this fit of masculine pique, shifted her weight suddenly, nudging Kuryakin in the thigh with one hip, and using the other elbow to once again prod Solo in the ribs. It wasn’t _quite_ enough to settle them, but it did break their concentration enough that they actually  _noticed_ when Director Carter held her hand up for silence, much as Waverly had done earlier.

“This is not meant as a slight against your previous training, or against your abilities, gentlemen. On the contrary, it is a singular compliment. I do not offer these lessons to many outside of my own people, and only to those who I think are capable of absorbing them, and putting them to good use. The work of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division requires a certain … “ she paused, choosing her words with care before she continued, “elasticity of mind that _very_ few agents from more conventional agencies possess. Waverly assures me that you three do.”

Solo, naturally, began to preen ever so slightly at the idea that he was the exception that proved the rule of the common run of agents. Kuryakin frowned slightly, then his face softened as Teller rolled her eyes and tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow.

_How to handle them, indeed_ , Director Carter thought, and made up her mind on a point she had been considering ever since Waverly had told her about his new team and their rather unconventional formation.

“Now, if there’s nothing else, gentlemen and lady,” Waverly said, picking up his pencil and very deliberately setting the file with UNCLE’s latest mission to one side of his desk, “I do have rather more things on my plate than cleaning up your mess, and the Director needs to arrange for your training.” He glanced over at the Director, one eyebrow raised enquiringly; she nodded back. “Therefore, you are dismissed, for the time being; you will receive your new training schedule as soon as the sessions have been finalized. Kuryakin, Solo: get out of my office.”

“No, not you, Miss Teller,” Director Carter cut in smoothly, as the one so addressed began to follow her male colleagues. “If you wouldn’t mind waiting for a moment, I’d like to speak with you. Alone,” she added, when Solo and Kuryakin paused in the doorway at her words.

Teller flicked her fingers at them, _shoo_ , _go on, I’m quite a big girl now_ , and they went with commendable promptness.

The Director gathered up her handbag, shook hands with Waverly (“Goodbye, Alex, I’ll be in touch as soon as I’ve talked to Dr. Wilkes.” “Always a pleasure, Peggy.”), and gestured for Teller to precede her out the door.

She also took the time to exchange a few words with Waverly’s secretary, Millie, about the girl’s ailing mother, her young man who was apparently dithering on the point of a declaration, and a handful of details from the Istanbul mission: nothing _classified_ , strictly speaking, but useful information to know if one was to be working closely with UNCLE, or teaching them. It was astonishing – Gaby learned more about Millie in five minutes than she had working with her for six months, and the girl’s observations about the team were uncomfortably accurate. She squirmed internally as their faults and foibles were laid out so plainly for a total stranger, but the Director accepted the information with an air of tolerant amusement: clearly, the woman had seen and dealt with worse.

“Now, then, Miss Teller,” Director Carter said afterwards as the pair made their way down the hall to the lift, “I’m sure you’ve noticed that the world of intelligence and espionage is almost exclusively a male one.”

“Indeed, I had noticed that,” Gaby said dryly as both women stepped sideways to avoid colliding with a young man wearing an impeccable suit and a harried expression. He brushed rudely between them without so much as a ‘Pardon me’, as if they didn’t exist. She seriously considered tripping him as he passed, but decided the fuss that would inevitably follow wouldn’t be worth the satisfaction.

“Exactly so,” the Director continued, just as dryly. “I’ve spent the last fifteen years, ever since they stopped being able to dismiss or ignore me, trying to correct that imbalance. And of course, there are just some things that the higher-ups can’t or won’t teach the few women under their command.” She let out a derisive snort; one that spoke of _years_ spent chafing under this mindset. “Most of the men in my position simply can’t wrap their heads around the idea of using the ladies for anything beyond the usual honeypot and entrapment schemes, or that the _enemy_ might have the brains to do so. Shows a complete and _utter_ lack of imagination on their part, and it’s come back to haunt us time and time again.”

“Hence Millie?” Gaby jabbed her finger into the lift button with rather more force than was strictly necessary. As lovely as Illya and Napoleon could be, they were not immune to the bone-headed blindness the Director had just described. She was working on correcting that attitude, with no little success, but it was still very much a work in progress.

“Hence Millie,” Director Carter concurred with a wry smile. “I’ve been building a network of those few women who _have_ managed to penetrate these … hallowed halls of power and influence.” Gaby stifled a giggle as they stepped into the lift. The Director winked at her, but carried on serenely. “Some I try to recruit directly into SHIELD., where their talents would be far better used than in their current agencies. Millie will likely be a candidate for that, if she can bring her young man up to scratch: Alex is a _dear_ , but he does have his blind spots, and somehow, having a married secretary isn’t _quite_ the done thing.”

“And … is that what you wanted to discuss?” Gaby asked hesitantly. "Me coming to work for you?"

The Director shook her head as they exited the lift and began to cross the lobby, heels clicking on the marble tiles.

“Oh, no, my dear. Not at all. Of course, you are eminently qualified to be one of _my_ agents,” she continued as the main doors opened and they stepped out into a rare moment of London sunshine. The Director sighed happily and fished a pair of red sunglasses out of her handbag; Gaby followed her example with her own white pair. The light really was _blinding_ after so long in the dim recesses Waverly’s office. “I _had_ considered bringing you on board, but the trouble is, you work so very well with your current team that I’d be obliged to take Kuryakin and Solo, too, and to be perfectly frank, I’d much rather leave that particular headache to Alex.”

This time, Gaby didn’t bother to repress her delighted giggle.

“No, I simply wanted to make sure you were making the right sort of contacts, contacts Waverly and your young men can’t help you with because they don’t know about them. In fact, if they ask you about our meeting, you will tell them that I wanted to take tea, and talk to Another Woman in Intelligence, and perhaps discuss where your dress came from, and how to alter it to conceal weapons or other useful devices.”

“Which, is of course, exactly what we will do,” Gaby said with an arch smile. The Director matched it with a knowing tilt of the head.

“Naturally. You’re quick on the uptake. I’ve reserved a private room at a delightful little place not too far from here, and you will be able to exclaim over their pastries later with complete sincerity. And while we take tea, we’ll meet with a few of my colleagues: some from SHIELD, and some from a few other agencies. In particular, I want to introduce you to a young analyst from MI6, Olivia Mansfield. I think you two will get along _swimmingly_.”


End file.
